Witch's Apprentice
by DapperDalton
Summary: Taylor Hebert, betrayed by the one she trusted and the system that was supposed to protect her. It's a story that has been heard before, and will be heard far into the future. She calls for help, and it is heard far beyond the confines of that simple school. That call goes out beyond time and space, to a place where legends lie. Beware Brockton Bay, beware the Witch of Betrayal.
1. Chapter 1

It was quiet on the beach near Corinth, the waves lapping the shore as the sky turned brilliant shades of gold and orange as the sun set against the distant horizon. A trireme sat beached on the shore, sailors in loose tunics carrying supplies from a stockpile further up on the shore down to stock it. The captain sat on a nearby piece of driftwood, watching them load their supplies and nervously glancing at the woman next to him.

Dressing in long flowing purple robe, adorned with small trimmings of gold with a black and purple hooded shawl over top of it, the woman sat with her legs crossed as she watched the sailors. Leaning against her shoulder was a long staff, top adorned with two silver circles of varying sizes. Glancing at the captain, she smirked in slight amusement at his nervousness before speaking. "Nicon, how long until the ship is ready to leave?"

Tugging on the collar of his tunic, Nicon looked at the sailors and frowned as a few stopped to look at him. He quickly shooed them onward, letting out concerned chuckle. "W-Well, the men will finish getting all the supplies onto the ship in about an hour or so your grace. After that, we can set sail for Thebes. Should only take a couple days to get there."

Nodding, she turned back to watch the sailors, ignoring the almost silent sigh of relief that escaped Nicon. Their lives were spared for now, simply because the dragonbone warriors couldn't sail the vessel themselves, and it would take too long for her to acquire anything else. They would die before they reached their destination, to preserve the secret of her being in Thebes. Jason could never find out where she went, less he hunt her across all of Greece…

Her ear shifted as she heard… something, a voice drifting across the beach. Turning ever so slightly to glance at the captain, she waited for him to take notice and handle it. Even as the voice grew louder, becoming more defined as the voice of a young girl, he did not move. A small frown came over her face, and she made a coughing noise to grab his attention. He jumped and turned to look at her in apprehension. "Are you going to deal with that?"

He just gave her a confused look as he turned to look over his shoulder and all around, even as the voice started to grow more defined. No words were able to be understood, but the tone was obvious despite that. Desperate, and panicked. "D-Deal with what, your grace?"

She pursed her lips and looked at him for a few moments. He really didn't hear that, did he? That was odd, and odd meant things not going to plan. Taking her staff into her hand, she smoothly rose to stand and made a dismissive gesture towards the sailors. "I want all the supplies to be on the ship by the time I return, anything not on board shall be left behind."

Ignoring the sharp intake of breath from Nicon and the sudden orders he was shouting to his crew as he sprinted over to help, she turned and started calmly striding across the sands. The voice grew more prominent, and words grew clear as she went, along with the 'thuds' that came from flesh striking metal.. "_LET ME OUT! Please, someone, anyone, HELP ME! Let me OUT!"_

At the crest of a dune, she stopped to survey the area. The voice was still screaming, though the words and the thuds were growing fainter. Not in the sense of an increase in distance, but more in the sense of the girl growing weaker. Was it some kind of spirit perhaps, one that required magic circuits to be able to hear? Her eyes found the source of the voice, and an eyebrow rose at the… distortion in the air.

"You should go back to the ship." Whirling, her staff was pointed directly towards the woman that appeared behind her. Despite the glowing purple circle of runes floating around the head, the completely mundane looking woman simply stared at her. Long brown wavy locks, a clean white dress, and sandals. Completely and utterly mundane, if not for the sheer weight of presence that seemed to press down on everything around her. Greater than even Aphrodite, all those years ago.

"Alaya. Why does the Will of Humanity stand before me now?" Her glare remained strong, despite knowing that any second could be the last she ever breathed. If Alaya wanted her death, she would have dispatched a Counter Guardian. If there was some task she commanded of her, then she would have simply spoken directly into her mine. To take a physical form and appear like this was… strange.

"To tell you to go back to the ship. Your place is here in the Throne of Heroes. That girl does not need your help." She froze as she heard those monotone words, the spell ignited at the end of her staff simply vanishing as her concentration was broken. What in the world...

"...Here, in the Throne of Heroes? This is a beach near Corinth, not the place of legends. Do not fool with me, Alaya." The growl escaped her throat even as the spell reignited at the end of her staff, even as Alaya tilted her head and stared at her.

"Yes, and no. This is a beach near Corinth, but it is not truly. This is your memory, your mind. You know that is an entirely true possibility." The monotone caused her to grind her teeth, even as her mind went whirling. She knew the Throne of Heroes was most likely not a physical place, but the idea that she could already be dead… Alaya wouldn't lie, Alaya would have no reason to lie.

Pulling her staff up and letting the spell die, she glared at the manifestation of humanity's unconscious and glanced back to the distortion. The girls voice had been reduced to quiet, wretched sobs, and the thudding had stopped. Her mind started connecting the dots, as she stared at the distortion. She said that she should stay here in the Throne of Heroes, meaning that entering the… portal would free her from it.

Meaning, someone was strong enough to try and summon her through the veil, just through sheer blind panic as far as she could tell. Not just a clone of her inside a vessel, but the real true her kept in the Throne itself. She was dead, and had lived her life in its entirety… but this was a chance at getting to live again. To be free from a cycle of living her life over and over again. "No, I think I shall not go back to the ship."

"You should. I cannot guarantee that you'll return to the Throne of Heroes if you go through that portal." The words carried to her as she strode towards the distortion. She ignored them, examining the shimmer in the air as she got closer. There was a faint shift in tone and color, as if the area was night while the rest of the area was not. A faint, sickly sweet stench of rot carried to her nose as the wind blew through it, making her scrunch her nose up. She never looked back as she stepped into it. If she had, she might have noticed the faint traces of a smile on Alaya's face, or the devious glint in her eye as everything vanished around her.

It was painful, stepping through that portal and crossing over. Her usual teleportation was quick, painless, the only sensation being that all sensation vanished. This felt like she was being forcibly broken down into chunks, having those chunks carried over, and reconstructed. All in the span of about a second or two, leaving her stumbling as she came out.

Pressing a hand against what felt like a metal wall to sturdy herself, she kept her eyes closed and breathed deeply through her nose. The first thing to hit her was stench of blood and rot, and she simply soaked it in for a moment. The second thing to come to her was the steady flow of prana of prana coming to her. Opening her eyes, she pushed herself upright and looked around the area she found herself in. A long school corridor, with lockers lining it on both sides. All the lights were out, and judging from the light coming through the windows it was late in the evening.

How she knew what everything was not important at the moment, it was a question that could be answered at another time. Her eyes were drawn to the source of the horrid scent and flow of prana. One of the lockers, with small dents lining it from the inside. Old, stale blood was oozing out from under the door and pooling on the ground in front of it. Taking a step forward and off the ground, she raised a hand and pressed it against the door's lock and quietly spoke a divine word. The combination entered itself with quick precise turns, and the latch lifted.

She had to take several quick steps back as the door opened and its contents spilled out onto the floor. Her nose wrinkled in disgust as she took it all in. Used femnine products, obviously left to literally rot for a fairly long time. Insects of various types skittered away in all directions, from the most important thing to come out of the locker. An unconscious wreck of a girl, hair messily sprayed across the ground as she laid on her side.

Kneeling in the air, she waved a hand and quietly spoke another divine word. The rot and filth on and around the girl disintegrated as the prana infused it, drifting up into the air as barely visible motes for a moment before vanishing. Reaching a hand out to press it against her neck, she felt a faint pulse and pursed her lips. It wouldn't do for the girl to die, she was providing a not insignificant amount of prana.

Lifting the girls hand, she eyed the curious sigil running along the back of her hand in red. At least part of whatever spell that allowed the girl's prana to flow into her was tied up there, and she could sense the condensed prana that made it up. Something to look into further at a later time. Taking the hand between her own, a muttered word brought a faint purple glow to the girls body. Bites and bruises faded, her ruined hands and fingernails restored themselves, and the venom and infections in her blood were burned away.

Straightening up, she watched the girl shift a bit in her sleep and mutter. She could wait for the girl awaken, but that might take hours and frankly… She didn't want the job of having to calm her down, nor was it worth a spell to force her to calm down. Looking up towards the ceiling, it was an easy guess as to how much distance it would be before open air. A muttered divine word was all it took for her to vanish into a swarm of purple butterfly shaped motes of energy, and reappear high above the cityscape. Her cloak spread wide as she surveyed the shithole that was to be her new home for the time being, and a giggle came to her. The giggle grew into a full bellied laugh as she floated there in the air above everything, a single thought passing through her head. _This is going to be fun._

So… This is one of the ideas I had floating around my head for a fair bit. It kind of refused to die, mostly because it seems very different from your average Worm/Fate crossover fic. As far as I can tell, Caster has never made an appearance in one. Which is a damn shame in my opinion, because she honestly has a lot in common with Taylor and she just works _really well_ in the setting. To any TYPE Moon fans, feel free to tell me if I got anything wrong. I tried to make sure it was all right, but the magic system is fairly complex.

To any curious about my other fics, they're still ongoing. I just had to get this little… thing out on paper.


	2. Chapter 2

Most people would describe returning to consciousness as either slow or fast. Managing to dig yourself out of the nothingness one sense or a time, or everything hitting you all at once like a bat to the face. My awakening was of the latter sort, simply just opening my eyes to find myself looking up at the dark ceiling. I stared at it in confusion, wondering where in the world I was. Slowly pushing myself to sit upright, I glanced around the room.

I was in a hospital room, dressed in one of their gowns and laying in one of their beds. A heart monitor was set up one side of the bed, connected to me by a long cord. The blinds were drawn, only a little bit of the city night visible through the cracks. The lights were off, leaving only a couple of different ambient sources of light to see by. Collapsed in a chair by my bed, visible in the darkness, was Dad.

Seeing Dad looking like hell, collapsed in a chair by my bed, finally caused the memory of what happened to flash back into my mind. The trio, the locker, the disgusting smell… the bugs. I vaguely heard the monitor's beeping increase and a small alarm go off as my heart rate skyrocketed, and I started to hyperventilate. Dad awakened with a start, looking around blearily for a moment before his eyes landed on me.

He said something that didn't manage to penetrate the terrified haze, but then he was there with his arms around me. I just threw my arms back around him, pressing my face into his shoulder and started to bawl. No idea how long I sat there in my Dad's arms, simply letting the emotions from the locker simply roll out of my eyes and into his shirt. The fact that lights had come on and that Dad was arguing with someone at the same time as I was doing this was completely ignored.

Eventually, the waterworks dried up a bit and I just wound up feeling mostly empty. I didn't let go of Dad despite that, simply holding him as I shivered. I was going to die… I should be dead. Why wasn't I dead? There were bugs literally eating me while I was trapped in that locker! In fact… there was absolutely no pain at all. None of the stinging sensation from the bug bites, none of the pain from tearing my fingernails off clawing at the door... nothing.

Literally having to peel my face off my Dad's shoulder thanks to a mixture of tears and snot, I took the paper towel I felt pressed into my hand and wiped my face off. Once I was pretty sure most of my face was clean, I lowered the towel and felt it get removed from my hand. Dad had a look on his face that was a mixture of happiness and relief, and made me want to just hug him again and not let go. Turning my head, I froze as my eyes managed to find the other two occupants to the room.

Panacea was standing there in costume, arms crossed as she waited. The long white robe seemed to almost consume her, and hid a fair portion of her face in it. I could barely manage to make out the small bags under her eyes under the hood, and there was a slight downturn of her lips. It was probably my fault she was up so late, here healing me.

Standing next to her was Ms. Militia, looking very amused if the crinkles at the corner of her eyes were any indication. It was one thing to see her in a picture, but in person was an entirely different experience. She was… shorter than I had expected, probably a little bit under my height. Still would have been intimidating in her form fitting army fatigues, a bowie knife at her hip if there wasn't obviously a smile on her face.

I just sat there for several moments, mind whirling as I tried to reason out what to say. Two of the biggest name heroes in the city, hell, Panacea was one of the biggest names in the world, were in the same room as me. Had probably watched me suffer an emotional breakdown, cry my eyes out like a baby, and absolutely ruin my dad's shirt. I was just about to hide under the blankets and never come back out when Panacea took a couple steps forward. With her closer, I got a better look at her face. Beyond the tired look on her features, there's what I could only guess to be… curiosity. "Do I have permission to examine you?"

"I uh, um… S-Sure?" I couldn't manage to get out anything else past the embarrassment of what just transpired. She didn't seem to mind or care, simply reaching a hand out to rest against my arm. I watched as she had a small intake of breath, her eyes glazing over as she stood there. Her lips were subtly moving as she mouthed things, though I couldn't tell exactly what she was saying. A minute or two passed like this, and the embarrassment was starting to fade as awkwardness sets in. I shifted a bit on the bed, and she snapped out of her trance and let go.

"Sorry, just… wow. Never seen something so... " Shaking her head, she took a step back away from the bed and glanced over at Miss Militia who was quirking an eyebrow at her. Sighing, her eyes turned back to me. "You have no idea what's going on, do you?"

A few moments of staring passed before I shook my head in confusion. Miss Militia stepped forward to stand next to Panacea, tucking her arms behind her back. "Yesterday at six in the afternoon, Miss Hebert, you were discovered lying unconscious outside your locker by the school's janitor… Completely unharmed and clean, despite the obvious evidence that you were trapped inside. The locker was seemingly unlocked from the outside, but no fingerprints or DNA samples. He called the police, the police saw the situation and assumed parahuman intervention. You were sent to the hospital in an ambulance due to just not being able to be woken up despite no obvious injuries, and Panacea was called in."

Nodding, Panacea made a small gesture towards my hand. "I came in to check your vitals, and well… You came out of that locker healthier than you went into it, as far as I can tell. The only obvious sign that something was… off at first was whatever that is on your hand." Following her gesture, I blinked at the sight of the bright red tattoo on the back of my hand. It kind of reminded me of a crescent moon, with three distinct sections to it. A large crescent, a smaller crescent inside the larger one, and a straight line crossing through them from top to bottom. I could feel… something, when I focused on them. A thrum of power.

"It's not an actual tattoo, that much is for certain. My power can tell it's there, but the cells affected by it are pretty much invisible to me. As far as I can tell, they've got their own little shell around them or something. That's not the most concerning thing though…" My gaze shot up towards her face, slightly wide eyed as she winced. "I can't fix brains, but I can examine them. I was taking a look at yours for any damage when I noticed something subtle. Your DNA was being changed, spreading from the Corona Pollentia outwards. That's the organ in the brain that grants powers, before you ask. It didn't change a lot of your DNA, just seven chromosomes in each of your cells. Your body changed to match this new DNA, and it's… nothing like anything I had ever seen before."

She went quiet, and I sat there staring at my hand for several long moments. Now that I was really looking at it, I could tell that there were subtle differences. They were just a little thinner and longer, and the skin had a little more of a healthy color to it. My eyes trailed up to look at Panacea, before stopping as I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. My hand snapped up to grab one of my locks of hair, pulling it to a better position to see it. Right at the end of it, the color changed from its natural brown to… purple. "I need a mirror. Now."

Miss Militia nodded and pulled the knife from her belt, the weapon turning into a whirling mass of green energy before transforming into a… mirror polished round shield. We all gave her looks and she shrugged. "History Museum."

Holding the thing out to me, I took it and flipped it around to look at myself and my breath caught. The person looking back was still recognizable as me, just… a different me. My facial structure had altered a little for the better. My nose was a little more grecian, and my mouth had narrowed a bit. My eyes had changed color completely, turning to a rich lavender color. My hair was the same all the way from the roots to just before the tips, where they turned to a pale lavender color. Sticking out from between the wavy locks were a pair of honest to god elf ears. A few small changes, and I was no longer Taylor Hebert frog mouthed girl, now I was Taylor Hebert, elven princess.

"There's even more changes to your internals. You ultimately still have all the same things inside of you, but they're all… improved. Musculature is stronger, senses are better, your internal systems are more robust, even the synapses in your brain seem to be firing faster than normal. You're probably on par with an olympic athlete now, and I only see things improving as you finish growing. You'll never beat Alexandria in an arm wrestling competition, but your average person would get creamed." All of this would have been less disconcerting if she hadn't fixed me with this look of open curiosity. I mean, it sounded like I was probably pretty interesting to her but… still, I felt like a particularly interesting bug.

Nodding in her general direction, I kept staring at my reflection in the mirror, tilting my head this way and that as I inspected myself. I felt like I really should care more about it, apparently I wasn't entirely… human, anymore. But I was still riding the wave of numbness that came from crying my heart out. Glancing up at Miss Militia, I handed her back the mirror before looking down at my body. A small spark of excitement managed to pierce through the slight haze that had descended. I had definitely grown a cup size! And my stomach was looking thinner, a small poke confirming that it infact, was now toned. Eat your heart out Emma!

A small cough interrupted my mental cheers and prodding of my arm. I glanced up to see Miss Militia pulling a chair over to sit down next to the bed, Panacea moving towards the door. "Ms. Hebert, as much as you probably require rest… It's probably best if we get your statement out of the way as soon as possible. Let's us get things started tonight, instead of in the morning. Might make a world of difference."

Glancing over at Dad, I saw him open his mouth before I motioned for him to stop. Gripping the hospital sheets a little, I nodded along. "I… You better get comfortable, we're going to be here for a while."

With that, I started my story from the beginning, directly after arriving home from summer camp. The bizarre change from friend to enemy overnight for Emma, the start of bullying at school and the formation of the Trio, and the steady progression of things. One of my hands had shifted from the bed sheets to Dad's hand, though whether that was more for me or for him I couldn't tell. Miss Militia looked completely calm throughout the entire ordeal, though her knife had changed to a rather massive revolver after I explained how the staff completely ignored everything they did. Eventually, I reached the end and took a breath to calm myself. Miss Militia sat there quietly for a few moments, thinking before she spoke. "You've gone through a lot, Miss Hebert. I am personally appalled by the apparent state of things at Winslow. Do you have any evidence to support these claims? I personally believe you, but the courts.."

She didn't need to finish the sentence for me to understand what she meant. Luckily, I had the thought of mind to actually prepare for a situation like this. "In the closet of my room, hidden in a box at the back, there's a journal I've been writing for a couple months now. Every day something happened, I wrote it down. There's also the username and password to several school email accounts filled with hate mail, as well as several that I printed out."

For someone with a mask covering their mouth, her face was very expressive. The smile that came onto her face was definitely not the kind one from before, but something more predatory. She pushed herself up and motioned towards my Dad. "Mr. Hebert, I'd like to get this to the police by tonight. I'm sure Ms. Hebert can use some more rest, so let's go get this journal?"

Dad glanced over at me nervously, like I would vanish if I left his sight again. I gave him a weak smile and squeezed his hand, motioning with my head towards Miss Militia. "I'll be fine Dad. Go get the journal to the police, the sooner it's given to them, the better."

He breathed a small sigh out of his mouth and nodded, slowly pushing himself up before letting go of my hand. I placed both of them over my stomach and watched as they both left the room, waving back at my Dad when he stopped to wave at him. Silence filled the room except for the quiet beep beep beep beep of the heart monitor, leaving me with nothing but my thoughts. There was no way I was gonna be going back to sleep, I surprisingly didn't feel tired at all. Maybe another thing related to my powers…

"So, that's how you wound up in that thing. I was wondering who thought up something so cruel. I should have done something similar to Jason, though with a buried coffin…" I jumped as a voice suddenly sounded out in the room, the monitor spiking again for a moment as I whipped my head to look at the source. Next to the room's window, stepping forward out of the darkness, was a woman. Clad in long flowing robes that seemed to blend in with the darkness behind her, the only things that stood out were the gold trimmings that adorned her hood and robes, the pale skin around her mouth, purple lipstick, and lavender bangs framing her mouth.

"Wh-Who are you?! How'd you get in here?" I leaned away from her, scooting along the bed as my hand started searching along the side. Didn't these things usually come with buttons to call nurses? The woman chuckled, her lips turning upwards into a small smirk as she watched me. Her hands came up to her hood and pulled it down.

"Is that any way to talk to the woman who saved your life?" I stopped moving as my jaw dropped, and I just gaped at her. If I was an elven princess, she… she was an elven queen. Her features seemed almost sculpted in a way, each contour designed to be the best it could possibly be. A perfect greek nose, lips just the right width and size, cheekbones that accentuated her lavender eyes, and long silky straight hair that framed her face. Her own pair of elven ears stuck out from the purple strands, and it took a few seconds for her brain to restart and make the connection.

"W-Wait, YOU saved me from the locker? And healed me? And made me look like you, and be inhuman? Are… Are you an elf?" The hurried questions that spilled from my mouth seemed to amuse her, and she actually had to cover her mouth to stifle the laughter the last question brought. I couldn't help but frown, it was a completely reasonable question to ask someone who looked like an elf.

"Let's go in order, we've got a lot to talk about. Yes, though you were the one who called me there. Yes, it would have been rather wasted effort to let you die of infection after coming all the way here. No, that seems to be an unintended side effect of you summoning me here. And no, I am not an elf. If I had to be specific, I'd say I'm three fourths nymph and one fourth god." Gesturing to one of the other chairs in the room and saying a single word, it floated across the room towards her and settled next to my bed. While I was busy gaping at her and the casual use of her power, she settled into the seat cross-legged. She leaned forward and reached a single finger out, placing it on my chin and closing my mouth.

"You tapped into things beyond your understanding, and now we're stuck together. I might as well make sure the person to whom I might be intertwined with for the rest of my life is well informed. Now, you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" She brought her hand back and I just fixed her with a stare. Either I summoned some kind of greek fairy demigod, or the cape who saved me was absolutely insane. I really didn't know which of those two possibilities was the worse one. Playing for time, I shook my head no.

"Alright, now pay attention. I don't want to have to repeat myself. First and most important thing, magic is real. It's real and I use it, I am not one of your "capes". I am what is called a Heroic Spirit. When someone of particular fame dies, and their legend and story are told by humans, they ascend to what's known as the Throne of Heroes. A metaphysical record beyond the world, where the legends are compiled and kept for all eternity. Sometimes, people tap into that record to call upon those individuals for various reasons. What comes out is a Heroic Spirit, a manifestation of those legends. This is all highly simplified, but basically you somehow managed to call out to me in the Throne of Heroes while in that locker. I answered your cries for help, but something went wrong during the summoning. A chunk of me… broke off, for lack of a better term and embedded itself in you. Overwrite your existence with my own, and caused the changes you see now. Any questions?"

As she sat there with her hands in her lap, several questions came to mind. Are you insane? How did I manage to call out to you? If everyone important goes to the Throne of Heroes, does that mean I could have summoned George Washington or Amelia Earhart? But, no, one question above all others managed to work its way out of my mouth. "Who are you then? You say heroic spirits are legendary people, so you must be legendary as well."

She stopped for a moment, seeming to think on how best to answer. After a moment, she sighed and pressed a hand against her chest. "I am Princess Medea of Colchis. It is a pleasure to meet you, Taylor Hebert."


	3. Chapter 3

I couldn't help but stare at her, the only sound filling the room being the steady 'beep beep beep' of the heart monitor. The legend was slow to return from my memories, it had been a while since I read up on greek mythology. Greek princess on the island of Colchis, where the Golden Fleece is. Jason shows up with the Argonauts to get the fleece, gets told no by the king. Aphrodite helps Jason by making Medea fall in love with him, so that she'd help him. She gets him the fleece and murders her brother so they can get away. Eventually reach another island where the king wanted him to marry his daughter. He agrees, abandoning Medea and leaving her heartbroken. In her rage, she appears at a party and murders everyone but Jason before fleeing.

"...Oh." Mentally facepalming at that being what I said, it seemed to amuse her some more. Shaking her head, she removed the hand from her chest and leaned back in her seat. Neither of us said anything for a moment, as I tried to think of more questions to ask Medea. I decided not to ask if she was crazy, that might just set her off.

"How… did I manage to call you? Because this doesn't sound like any other kind of power I've ever heard of." She snorted and shook her head, making a motion back and forth between me and her.

"I've been trying to figure that out myself, and I do have a theory. To put it in the simplest terms possible, your circumstances and personality likely matched mine enough that there was a latent connection between us. When you got shoved into the locker, and started crying for help, whatever bizarre attribute allows parahumans to gain powers… forged that connection proper. Your cries for help gave me a path to reach out and manifest myself in this timeline, in this way."

My mouth opened itself to object to the comparison between the two of us, but shut itself after a moment when I started to think about it. Betrayal was a common thread between the two of us, just much more extreme in her case than mine. Her reaction was therefore, similarly more extreme than mine. Could I honestly say with the powers I had now, that in her situation I wouldn't retaliate? I might do it differently, choosing to instead just kill Jason instead of literally everyone else. Didn't some versions have her murdering her own children? Off topic. Point was, I could understand it. I sighed and reached a hand up to rub at one of my temples.

"Alright, that makes… sense in the context of what you explained. So, I managed to call you, the ghost" I ignored the slightly annoyed look her face took as I spoke "of an ancient greek princess from this weird metaphysical dimension where your legend was stored. But in the process of calling her, a literal piece of her broke off and fused with me. Which in turn changed some of my DNA to be more like said ghost. Should I expect any other side effects, or has the worst passed?"

She thought for a moment before shrugging, gesturing to herself. "Well, physically, that should be everything. As you have yet to finish growing, that of course will continue to change your appearance. But you've yet to reach that point yet. The only other change I can think of is maybe some minor emotional and personality shifts? A small chunk of my soul is literally joining with yours, so it should in theory cause some changes. This is all theoretical mind you, I've never observed something like this before… At the least, it should come with some benefits."

My head dropped into my hands and I groaned, rubbing at my face. That was not what I wanted to hear. I didn't want my soul becoming more like a woman who was known for murdering dozens of people, even if it was arguable how at fault she was! I let myself stew in that for a little bit, before pulling my head up and looking back at her. "They better be some nice benefits, because otherwise it isn't worth it."

"Taylor, the benefits are beyond your comprehension." She raised a hand and spoke a few words, a glowing purple circle appearing above it, lined with glyphs. As she continued to speak, it lazily started to idly twirl and spin in the air. "Because you have fused with a chunk of me, you also have the necessary blessing required to blessing required to use my style of magic. The magic of the gods."

Her hand snapped shut, the circle dissipating into motes of purple energy before completely fading. I blinked and couldn't help but feel a little excited despite being skeptic. If what she claimed was true, then she would truly be a cape. Having a perfect physique wasn't a bad power per say, but it wasn't a really good one either. Not really "combat fit", just a really minor brute. Magic however… magic could do anything.

"...How do I know to trust what you're saying is true? That you're not just leading me on, or are completely insane?" She rolled her eyes and glanced around the room, before spotting a book sitting on a small end-table. She held her hand out and spoke a single word, which now that I was paying attention sounded… greek.

The book flew across the room, hitting her hand with a small 'thump'. Looking over at me, she wiggled the book in her hand. "I guess this will be your first lesson on how to use Divine Words. Focus on the book, imagine coming to you, and say the words "Eláte argá" to bring the book over to you. I trust proving you can do the same things I can should prove that I'm at least serious about being able to teach you, hm?"

Staring at her for a few moments, I shrugged and held my hand out towards the book. I focused in on it, inspecting it and making a mental image of it floating to my hand. Breathing in slowly, my lips carefully formed the words to copy the sounds she had made. I felt a slight… exertion of something inside of me, like I was flexing a muscle. The book floated unsteadily from her hand, crawling across the room to my hand before finally simply dropping into my hand. The exertion faded, and I stared at the book in my hand.

"As a novice, your spells will be rather weak compared to mine. But you'll be a fine apprentice, and in time, a great sorceress I imagine." Turning from the book back to her, a satisfied smile sat on her face with only a small bit of smugness visible. She knew what my answer was going to be, and she knew that I knew that she knew. A small sigh escaped my lips, and I set the book aside.

"Alright, I'm in. I'll be your apprentice if you can teach me how to use these powers." Her smile spread even wider across her face and she clapped her hands.

"Excellent! We'll figure out a schedule for your training at a later date, as at the moment, your father and Miss Militia are coming down the hallway as we speak." Blinking, I looked over at the door and tried to figure out how in the world she knew that. "Do try and keep my existence a secret for now? They probably wouldn't understand. I'll be in touch~"

Looking over at her, I watched as she turned around and walked towards the window. She seemed to dissolve into purple motes of energy, the last of which faded out of sight just as the door opened. Dad and Miss Militia walked into the room, looking at me sitting up and looking back at them. "Glad to see you're still alive Miss Hebert, it'd make things awkward if we had to wake you."

Nodding along, Dad took his spot by my side while Miss Militia stood next to him. Her eyes settled on the chair that Medea had moved to sit in by my bed, and then turned to look at me with a quirked eyebrow. A quick blush came over my face as I tried to think of a suitable lie. "I uh… was experimenting with my power."

She nodded after a few moments, even as Dad gave me a curious look. "I'd ask you not to do that in a hospital, as any unfortunate side effects could cause a lot of damage."

Wincing slightly, I nodded along and glanced over at the book. "I don't really think what I was doing could cause anything like that, but I understand."

"What… is your power, Taylor?" Dad asked me, and I glanced at him for a few moments. Part of me didn't want to show him it in front of Miss Militia, just to try and keep any questions to a minimum. That though probably would draw more attention than just telling them what I had figured out… which I'd have to lie about anyway. Dammit.

"I think I might be a… trump? That's the term for capes that can have multiple powers, right?" I looked over at Miss Militia, and she slowly nodded. "My powers seem to be based off language. I say what I want, and my power responds. Like, here, watch." Looking over at the book and focusing, my hand came out and the required words slipped from my tongue, causing the book to unsteadily float over to my hand. Setting it back down on my lap, I offered her a shrug. "Not entirely sure why it requires me to speak in Greek, but it doesn't work with English or any other language I know bits of."

She nodded slowly again as Dad let out a low whistle, looking at the book. "That has the potential to be an extremely powerful power, Miss Hebert. Potentially the strongest power in the entire city depending on what limitations and how effective it turns out over all. Which, I suppose segways into the final thing we need to discuss."

"I'd like to extend to you an offer to join the Wards." Blinking, both Dad and I turned to stare at her. "You'll be given assistance to try and live a relatively normal life, regardless of whether you join or not. But we can offer training and resources to help you figure out what your power can and cannot do."

A few more moments passed as we stared at her, before a small sigh escaped my lips. Dad turned to me as I spoke, a small frown on his face. "Can I have time to consider it? It's… a rather important decision to make. I'd at least like a couple days at home to consider it."

She nodded and stood up, moving over to shake both my hand and Dad's. "Well, then I should leave you two alone, probably a lot to talk about. I have to admit though Miss Hebert, I hope that you'll join. The Wards are all good people, and you'd make a good addition to the team."

After that, she turned and left the room. As the door clicked shut behind her, silence filled the gap she left as neither me or Dad was willing to break it. His hand found mine and I squeezed it, just staring off towards the window. Eventually, the dreaded words escaped his lips. "Why… didn't you tell me? Why did it take you getting hospitalized for me to learn about it?"

Wincing, I took several moments to consider how to properly word this. I didn't want this to hurt anymore than it had to. "You… were, are, still mourning Mom. Between that and your union work, I didn't want to add something else for you to deal with. Besides, we don't have the money to take legal action even if we wanted to. Better to just suck it up and hope they'd eventually give up. Just turned out they weren't ever going to give up…"

Glancing back over at him, I watched as he struggled to find the words. I felt his own hand squeeze down tight on my fingers, and it felt like it would have hurt if not for the changes my body had undergone. My own fingers tensed as I gave him a reassuring squeeze back. "I'm sorry for keeping it from you for so long."

"No… No. Taylor, you don't have anything to be sorry about." My mouth opened to argue, but he just barreled on through. "You're too young to be dealing with this sort of thing on your own. I'm supposed to be there to handle these sorts of things, to protect you, and I didn't even realize something was wrong until you were put in the hospital! I was so caught up in my own world that you almost died. I… I have to be better. I need to be better"

Tears pricked at the edges of my eyes, and I pulled him out of his chair so that I could wrap him in a hug. Without the worry about the locker or the desperate sobs distracting me, his warmth was all that I could focus on. His own arms wrapped around me, patting me on the back. The patting became more desperate after a moment, and I realized after a moment he was wheezing. "Taylor… too tight!"

Quickly letting go, he took in a massive breath before coughing a bit. Rubbing at his ribs, he gave me an appraising look. "They really weren't kidding about olympic athlete, it felt like Kurt was giving me a bear hug."

We stared at each other for a few moments before breaking out into laughter. If someone watched us, they'd probably think we were absolutely insane. That didn't matter though, as I could feel something both lift off the both of us in that moment. The worry and tension that Dad had for me left him, and the guilt and shame I had faded away as well. In that particular moment, despite everything that had happened or would happen, we were alright.

Eventually the full laughter turned to chuckles, and then to giggles as we calmed down. Dad wiped a tear from his eye before looking me over again. "Well, you look like you're ready to go. And Panacea gave you a clear bill of health. Wanna change and get out of here? I brought you a change of clothes, even though the clothes in the locker were clean."

Instantly deciding, I nodded rapidly and he smiled. Finally finding the remote and calling the nurse in, it was a quick enough process to get me disconnected from the heart rate monitor and for Dad to pass me a back with my clothes in it. Going to the bathroom, I shut the door behind myself and set about changing into my old clothes. Catching sight of my reflection in the mirror as I got out of the gown, I couldn't help but stare in slight amazement at myself. To put it frankly, I looked like a supermodel. Not a hint of fat anywhere on me, all lean muscle. A minute might have been spent turning around and inspecting myself in the mirror and prodding area's to confirm that it was all real.

Eventually getting back on track, I discovered an unfortunate side effect to all the sudden muscle mass. The underwear he had brought me was uncomfortably tight. Sighing slightly, I made a mental note to buy entirely new pairs as soon as possible. Slipping the jeans on, the originally baggy pair of jeans actually fit decently well now. A little tight at the waist, but nowhere near as bad as the underwear. Grabbing the hoody, I slipped it on and breathed a sigh of relief at the fact it was still baggy on me. I wouldn't have to change my entire wardrobe out.

Flipping the hood up and adjusting it a little so the ears would sit comfortably but not be noticeably, I shoved my hair into the hood and down into the hoodie itself. It was a little uncomfortable, but I was paranoid about someone seeing the lavender tips and remembering me. Better to just be a normal girl in a hoodie. I opened the door and stepped out into the room, giving Dad a small smile as he stood up as well. Walking out of the room and towards the exit, a stray thought entered my head. I was going to have to pick between being Medea's apprentice and being a Ward, wasn't I?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: So, first chapter after a while of being gone. And it's this short. To be honest, anything longer just… didn't feel right. I could have made this a lot longer by going on to cover Taylor talking with Medea again and coming to her final decision to be her apprentice. But to do that after everything that happened in this comparatively dense section. And anything else would just feel like filler to me. Maybe that's because I recently wrote a scene for my other story that would be very similar to the scene I would add on to this one.

To cut off anyone who's going to ask about it, Miss Militia does have a plan in mind on what to do with Sophia if Taylor would actually join the Wards.


	4. Chapter 4

Sighing, Taylor listened as the door shut with a small 'click'. Despite the wall and TV between us, the faintest hints of Dad's footsteps drifted to my ears. The truck door opened, he climbed inside, and the vehicle started before pulling out. I hadn't realized it at the hospital, but being at the peak of humanity meant _everything _was peak. The ride back was a strange cacophony of sound, mixed together with a distractingly sensitive feeling of touch. It wasn't painful or even unpleasant really, just slightly distracting.

It was impossible to get to sleep once I got home though, despite the fact that exhaustion should have quickly set in. Between the fact that the sounds of the night were clearer than ever, and the fact I simply wasn't tired, I couldn't. So with nothing better to do, working with my power was the best option I had. About an hour spent digging around my room to try and find anything with greek in it came up empty handed, so I just spent the next couple of hours I had before morning practicing and experimenting with the two words I knew. One of the words did absolutely nothing when spoken by itself, while the other sent a book flying into my hand at full speed. So "Eláte argá" must mean something at least approximate to either come slowly or float slowly, more likely the former than the latter.

As morning came, a feeling crept up the back of my neck. There was a sort of… intangible presence in the air, as if something was watching me. It followed her everywhere except the bathroom. Dad didn't seem to notice it, so I never brought it up. Now stretched out on the couch, it was simply a matter of time to see if her hunch would come true. Which id did, as a familiar voice spoke out and made me jump. "Why is all your food so disgustingly sweet?"

Sitting up and looking over, there was Medea leaning against the door frame of the kitchen. Her hood was down and her gloves were off, as she ate an apple. Ignoring the occasional disgusted look she shot towards it, it took a few moments to respond. "...Where did you get that? We haven't don't have any apples."

She shrugged and quietly spoke a word, tossing the apple behind her as it disintegrated into motes of light. "I took it from one of your neighbors, since all the food you own is even worse in comparison. Good for energy, but absolutely disgusting in taste."

"...You broke into one of my neighbors' houses to steal an apple?!" The shock and confusion in my voice made her snort. Walking over, she delicately sat herself down in the recliner and leaned back to look at me.

"No, I trespassed in one of your neighbors houses and stole an apple. Broke into implies that I had to actually break something to get into the building, which is frankly just an insult to my abilities." It took several moments for it to sink in that she was being entirely serious. Reaching up to pinch the bridge of my nose, I couldn't contain the small sigh of exasperation that escaped my lips.

"Look, if you really wanted food, you could have just told me. I could have ran and gotten you something." That response just made her snort again and shake her head, a tsking sound escaping her lips.

"No no, you would never be able to tell what's good from what's bad if you think the food in your pantry is even passable. I'll have to teach you at some point how to tell the difference…" The way her voice trailed off as she thought foretold a long discussion of what was or wasn't good food. Deciding to nip it in the bud and change topics, I quickly responded.

"S-Speaking of teaching, do you think we can get started on you teaching me how to use my powers? I practiced with eláte argá, and I've gotten fairly good at it." Raising my hand and focusing on the TV remote, I spoke the words and grinned slightly as it floated smoothly to my hand. Over time it had gotten easier to fully imagine the image in my head, and it had gotten smoother as a result. She watched as it did so and smirked, giving a tiny golf clap as it reached my hand.

"Well done, well done. You managed to get a decent understanding of literally one of the most basic spells I could have taught you. However…" She opened her hand and spoke a word, the remote vanishing from my own hand and appearing in her open palm. "That is merely the barest hint of the beginning of what you'll be learning under me. This is magic, not the ridiculous nonsense that is your world's powers. Know that I expect you to give your all. Aunt Circe did not teach in half measures, and neither shall I."

Blinking a little at the fact that she just casually mentioned Circe, I shook my head a little. If she could teach me how to use this power properly, well… "The only response is to give it my all. I will learn this Medea."

A small smile grew on her face and she nodded, setting the remote aside as she waved at me. "Go get something to write with and write on, I'll be covering a lot of information and I do not want to have to repeat myself."

Nodding, it was a quick run up the stairs to my room to grab a pencil and a fresh notebook before I jogged back down. Medea was moving around the room, tracing faint symbols onto the walls with her the head of her staff. Once there was a symbol on each wall, she nodded and pressed her hand against one and spoke a single word. The runes glew a faint lavender for a moment, before fading entirely. Turning around, she looked at me and my supplies before nodding. "That will do. I set up a short term bounded field to ensure that no one notices us. Now, sit down."

Going over to the couch, I sat down and opened up the notebook up as Medea moved to stand across and in front of me. "First things first, I shall cover the basics of how our magic works. Make note that while some of the principles apply across all magical traditions, each one ultimately is incredibly different and expecting them to be the same is asking for disaster. Even between different spellcasters, they each have their own style and intricacies."

Quickly jotting that down, I glanced back up as she made a waving motion with her hand. "The way our magic works is through the use of what are called Divine Words. Basically, the gods have granted our bloodline direct access to the ability to fundamentally change reality through the use of their language. We intake mana, the life force of the world, convert it to prana, and then funnel the prana into the world around us so it will do as we ask. This is the most basic way to describe how our magic works at the most fundamental level, though it is practically bastardizing it for the sake of simplicity. Any questions before I continue?"

"Yes, just to make sure I understand. Our… magic, is entirely based around language? Wouldn't that cause issues with double entendres and synonyms?" The question managed to bring a small smile to Medea's face as she nodded.

"For beginning spellcasters, it can be quite the issue. For more complex spells or even simple ones, they can occasionally mess up and cause some… unintended effect. That's not even counting the times when a spell isn't entirely clear. For instance, say you cast the simple spell vázo fotiá. Direct translation is simply 'set on fire', in english. You think the effect would be simple. You set the intended target on fire. But, what the target actually is, entirely unclear. Do you mean the fool who insulted you, the chair he's sitting on, or the person off to the side that you saw move out of the corner of your eye? That's where visualization comes into play." Holding up a finger, she tapped the side of her head a few times to drive the point home as I quickly wrote down the important bits.

"It's the reason I told you to imagine the book coming to you. By visualizing what you want to happen, you don't have to say as much. 'Set on fire' works when you have a firm image of your mind of your enemy combusting before you. It's not as easy as you'd think though, completely separating surface level instructions from the stray random thoughts people have in the day to day. Trust me, I accidentally caused enough destruction when I was first learning to know that."

I wrote 'Visualize what you want to happen" down as she raised a finger and began to write in the air. "A technique you'll learn much later on will be condensing and conceptualization. For example, if I were to normally go about saying my strongest spells, it'd take far too long to speak all the complex parts required to set it up. Instead, I have shortened them to either a few words or even a single word by attaching meaning to those words. So for instance, when I say vrochí fotós, while it directly translates into 'rain of light', in reality I have condensed a paragraph's worth of speech into three simple words. This will be a technique that you'll learn much later on in your career, as it requires a firm understanding of what you need to say before it can work."

Stepping out of the way, she motioned to a paragraph of writing in greek that she had left hanging in the air. I couldn't understand a word of it, but it was long. She snapped her fingers and the writing came together in a ball before separating into two large words, which then separated into three words of an english translation. Rain of Light. Looking over at her, I couldn't help myself but ask. "What exactly does that spell do?"

A small smirk grew on her face and she tossed her hair over one shoulder. "It is an offensive spell, designed to channel raw mana through a magical circle to create lasers capable of punching through solid steel. It's also variable, allowing me to manifest as many circles as I have mana. The only liability is that it needs me to use my wand" she gestured to her staff "to actually target where they go. It's what I primarily use in combat, as it has the best balance of damage and speed out of any of my spells."

Nodding along, one element of what she said didn't make sense to me. "I understood most of that, but what is the point of the magic circle? Is it just so you can create more of them, or does it have another use?"

Holding a hand up, she recreated the circle she had last night. Purple in color with glyphs running along the inside of the circle as it idly spun in the air. "The magical circles serve two seperate functions in that spell. The first as you guessed, are to allow the spell to create multiple points for the lasers to fire from. The second is to increase the potency. The mana could be used raw, but that wouldn't produce as good of results. So it is channeled through the magical circle to refine it, for lack of a better term in your language. You likely will not be using magical circles for your on the fly spells for a while, as setting one up requires precise wording, and failure means the spell is going to go awry."

Adding onto the notes with 'Magic circles refine mana for better spells', she shut her hand and collapsed the circle before going back to writing in the air. "The first and most immediate concern for your education in magic is the fact that you don't know the language. Simply put, I'm going to have to teach you how to speak it before you can really get into the nitty gritty of spellcraft. But, before even that, I've got… a little gift to help with your appearance."

Blinking a little, I reached a hand up to brush against the tip of one of my new pointed ears. I hadn't really thought about it much, too preoccupied with practicing with my power. It was going to be an issue, but if she had a solution to it… One hand slipped back into her sleeve before coming back out with… a simple leather band with a few beads on it. I blinked a few times before giving her a confused look, and she quirked an eyebrow. "What, were you expecting a golden necklace inlaid with diamonds? This is much easier to pretend to be simple jewelry, to avoid suspicion."

Handing it over, I looked it over. The leather seemed like actual good leather, not crappy fake leather. The beads were each made of some kind of purple gemstone, with a single letter emblazoned on each to spell out WWMD. Looking back up at her, she smirked a little. "Plus, if you're ever in a sticky situation, you can just ask yourself. What Would Medea Do?"

I blinked a few times and gave her a slightly shocked stare for a few moments before shaking my head. She just kept smirking at her own stupid joke, as I slipped the thing onto my wrist. Looking at it there, I didn't feel any different and moved over to a mirror that sat in the living room. Moving in front of it, I blinked a few times at the sight. The effects weren't much, simply turning the tips of my hair back to their original brown, changing my eye color back to their normal color, and making my ears look like regular human ears. Reaching a hand up, I felt at the tips to see that they were in fact still there, just invisible. Subtle, but wasn't subtly what was wanted for a disguise?

Turning back to find her still smirking at me, I couldn't help but tear up a little bit. Despite the smugness that was coming off her, it was one of the first acts of kindness that had been given to me in a… long time. The smirk on her face softened a little, becoming more of a smile as I went back to my seat. "Thank you…"

She waved a hand as I sat myself down and picked my writing utensils back up. "It's a gift darling, besides, you're going to need to be able to move about the city without issue. I might send you on runs to pick things up, or we'll need to head somewhere to test out some of the more… dangerous incantations and spells I have. Now, to begin proper lessons on the greek language."

Soon all that filled the room was the sound of pencil on paper and Medea's calm voice as she precisely explained the way ancient greek actually worked. It was… nice. Actually being taught by someone who cared for once, instead of someone who was just phoning it in. I could see myself doing it a lot.

A/N: So... this might be the last chapter for a fair bit. I've screwed up a lot of the background lore on the fate side of the spectrum, and I'm not sure if it'd be worth rewriting everything or just dropping it. So... Yeah.


End file.
